Incidence and evidence: early modern stress patterns in stylometry classification.
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| Title: | Incidence and evidence: early modern stress patterns in stylometry classification. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Dooner, Nathan1 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Digital Scholarship in the Humanities. Jun2026, Vol. 41 Issue 2, p682-691. 10p. |
| Subjects: | Stylometry, Stress (Linguistics), Versification, Machine learning, Attribution of authorship, Content analysis |
| Abstract: | Stylometry—the science of measuring writing styles—typically relies on the counting of word or letter frequencies to offer judgements on the authorship of anonymous texts. However, a number of 20th-century tables remain prominently in use by authorship scholars. Most significant among these are Philip Timberlake's 1931 The Feminine Ending in English Blank Verse , and Ants Oras's 1960 Pause Patterns in Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama. Timberlake's study counted how frequently early modern verse lines ended on an additional, unstressed syllable, while Oras's study counted the pause positions in lines of verse. The works of Timberlake and Oras occupy a contentious place in the study of authorship, in which they are occasionally framed as a safer alternative to modern methods. Richard Proudfoot and Nicola Bennett, for example, cited Timberlake's study as one that could help them avoid the 'controversy about the relative value and reliability of different 'non-traditional' methods' in authorship studies (Proudfoot and Bennett). This article examines the evidentiary value of Oras and Timberlake's data when applied to machine-learning stylometry tests. Results from this research suggest that Oras and Timberlake's data lead to an extremely marginal increase in accuracy for stylometry experiments, and do not justify their use over modern approaches, such as the counts of the most frequently occurring words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Digital Scholarship in the Humanities is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Engineering Source |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: egs DbLabel: Engineering Source An: 194636962 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Incidence and evidence: early modern stress patterns in stylometry classification. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Dooner%2C+Nathan%22">Dooner, Nathan</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR) – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Digital+Scholarship+in+the+Humanities%22">Digital Scholarship in the Humanities</searchLink>. Jun2026, Vol. 41 Issue 2, p682-691. 10p. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Stylometry%22">Stylometry</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Stress+%28Linguistics%29%22">Stress (Linguistics)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Versification%22">Versification</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Machine+learning%22">Machine learning</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Attribution+of+authorship%22">Attribution of authorship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Content+analysis%22">Content analysis</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Stylometry—the science of measuring writing styles—typically relies on the counting of word or letter frequencies to offer judgements on the authorship of anonymous texts. However, a number of 20th-century tables remain prominently in use by authorship scholars. Most significant among these are Philip Timberlake's 1931 The Feminine Ending in English Blank Verse , and Ants Oras's 1960 Pause Patterns in Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama. Timberlake's study counted how frequently early modern verse lines ended on an additional, unstressed syllable, while Oras's study counted the pause positions in lines of verse. The works of Timberlake and Oras occupy a contentious place in the study of authorship, in which they are occasionally framed as a safer alternative to modern methods. Richard Proudfoot and Nicola Bennett, for example, cited Timberlake's study as one that could help them avoid the 'controversy about the relative value and reliability of different 'non-traditional' methods' in authorship studies (Proudfoot and Bennett). This article examines the evidentiary value of Oras and Timberlake's data when applied to machine-learning stylometry tests. Results from this research suggest that Oras and Timberlake's data lead to an extremely marginal increase in accuracy for stylometry experiments, and do not justify their use over modern approaches, such as the counts of the most frequently occurring words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Digital Scholarship in the Humanities is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1093/llc/fqag044 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 10 StartPage: 682 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Stylometry Type: general – SubjectFull: Stress (Linguistics) Type: general – SubjectFull: Versification Type: general – SubjectFull: Machine learning Type: general – SubjectFull: Attribution of authorship Type: general – SubjectFull: Content analysis Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Incidence and evidence: early modern stress patterns in stylometry classification. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Dooner, Nathan IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 06 Text: Jun2026 Type: published Y: 2026 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 2055768X Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 41 – Type: issue Value: 2 Titles: – TitleFull: Digital Scholarship in the Humanities Type: main |
| ResultId | 1 |
